Part of the excitement from any race at Talladega Superspeedway is the eventuality of a wreck.

There were plenty of them in Sunday's Alabama 500 at Talladega--including the "big one" that involved 17 cars.

That wreck was sparked by the No. 38 Ford of David Ragan turning while in traffic -- after being nudged from behind by the No. 78 Toyota of Martin Truex Jr. Six of the 12 NASCAR Playoffs drivers competing for the championship were involved in the wreck, including significant damage to the No. 78 Truex Jr., No. 17 Ford of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and No. 18 Toyota of Busch.

The wrecks were so numerous that only a small portion of the lineup was left when it was time to cross the finish line. And just four playoff contenders were left at the end.